Dover brush fire prompts evacuation

[A man runs to tell firefighters that the fire is getting dangerously close to goats in a pen behind where he is running. Skip O'Rourke | Times]

DOVER -- Authorities evacuated residents in the area of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Forbes Road this afternoon after flames from a 15-acre brush fire neared their homes.

It took 30 firefighters two hours to contain the blaze, which started near a chicken farm around 1:30 p.m.

Talia Jansen, 30, was taking a nap when a firefighter pounded on her door and told her to evacuate. Outside she saw flames engulfing trees near her Holiness Church Road home.

"It was very, very grey -- ash flying in your face grey," she said. "It was like opening the door to Ground Zero."

As flames neared, residents and workers worried about nearby homes, businesses and animals. Emelda Buenavista used a garden hose to wet vegetation behind a small barn and business. A man ran to tell firefighters that some goats were in danger.

Michelle Adkins could see the plumes of smoke from Dover Elementary School, where she works as a teacher's assistant. She rushed to get her dog, QT.

"I was really scared coming home," she said.

Ten homes were evacuated as a precaution because of shifting winds. Firefighters kept the flames from reaching homes. Around 3:40 p.m., Holiness Church Road residents were told they could return home.

No one was injured. A storage shed containing lawn equipment was damaged by the fire, according to Hillsborough Fire Rescue.

-- Skip O'Rourke and Catherine E. Shoichet, Times Staff Writers

Emelda Buenavista uses a garden hose to wet vegetation behind a small barn and business north of State Road 574 east of Moores Lake Road in the Dover area of eastern Hillsborough Couty.  [Skip O'Rourke, Times]